Man (Seven Forbidden Arts Book 9) Page 5

  “Take a breath, Olivia.”

  She frowned. What was that all about? He splayed the pegs to the side. The added pull made something deep inside of her come to life. Need darker and more carnal than before built in her core. A sudden, deep pressure settled on her clit. She gulped a lungful of air. She groaned and tilted her hips, seeking friction. The unrelenting pinching down there demanded immediate release. She ached for him to touch her, to massage away the building pressure, but he only caressed her breasts with soft kisses and lavish strokes of his tongue. His fondling increased gradually, until her nipples ached from the sharp little sucks and nips of his teeth. Heat gushed from her core. Wetness coated her inner thighs. He moved his hand down her body and pushed the heel of his palm on her pussy, flattening the pegs. The strange sensation of pressure and pulling increased tenfold. She cried out, tilting her hips up to press deeper into his palm.

  He dragged a finger through her wetness. “Good. You’re ready for more.” Slowly, he pushed a finger inside, stretching her with a new kind of heat.

  “Oh, God.” She now wished she wasn’t tied up. She needed something to hold onto.

  He watched her intently, as if measuring her reaction, while pumping slowly in and out. It was impossible to contain the sounds that escaped her mouth. She sounded wanton and dirty, but it seemed to fuel him, because his pace turned faster. When he added the second finger, she gasped out loudly, but he caught the sound with his mouth, pressing their lips together. The kiss took her off guard. It somehow didn’t fit with the scene, but she was too far gone to care. It felt good. Delicious. She returned the kiss with abandon, opening for his tongue. He took everything she gave. Their breathing mixed to a frantic rhythm. Her body jerked as a band of tension started to tighten around her abdomen.

  “I––”

  The intensity scared her, but the beautiful stranger hovering over her gave her something to hold onto. He gave her his eyes and the reverent admiration in his gaze as he stared at her face. She mourned the loss of his lips, but immediately forgot what she was mourning as he swiftly removed the pegs, one after the other, at the moment her orgasm hit. Pleasure slammed into her, threatening to overthrow her sanity. A fleeting sting settled in her labia and clit, and then her swollen parts pumped with slow-detonating ferocity. The pleasure stretched on and on, until she couldn’t handle more. Her body convulsed and shook. Shivers wracked her legs. He kissed her again, lightly this time, while massaging her clit until the shocks of pleasure had abated and only a faint, bruising feeling tingled on her skin.

  His voice pulled her from the underworld of decadent, dark pleasure. “You were magnificent.”

  If she had enough energy left she would’ve told him he was perfectly evil. An angel with dangerous, lustful powers.

  He untied her and rubbed her arms and legs before rearranging her on her stomach. The soothing effects of his massage didn’t last long, because soon his fingers dipped between her legs again. He made her come so many times, she lost count. After each orgasm, he gave her a brief repose and fed her water before starting all over. In the early morning hours, her body was limp and her brain fuzzy. Magically, he’d conquered her body in one night. Surely, the sweet, intense way in which he’d pleased her meant he couldn’t hurt her? With that fairy tale in mind, she drifted off to sleep.

  The helijet was due to land shortly. Cain left Olivia’s house, ensuring he set the alarm. Rio could be an unsafe place for a woman alone. He moved down the steep cliff with the rope, hating himself. Adultery wasn’t in his code of conduct. His late wife had broken him with her affair. Touching Olivia was only permitted on a clinical level, to serve the purpose of the mission. Wanting to touch her for his selfish needs was a no go. If his body didn’t harden every time he was near her, he could’ve convinced himself that his ministrations were from professional interest and not because he wanted to bury his fingers inside her just to hear how she sounded when she came.

  She sounded different when the nightmares in her eyes made way for pleasure. She submitted to the ecstasy beautifully, giving without holding back or hiding, like only a person who’d survived the horrors of death could do. He hadn’t expected that. From the reserved way she carried herself in life, he’d imagined it to be her chosen comportment in bed. She was like a treasure chest of secrets. Nothing about her was a generalization. The fact that he couldn’t read her made the mystery more intense. He hadn’t touched a woman like that since Clara had died and it was worth every second. He still buzzed from the high, the hard-on a painful but sweet souvenir of the night.

  Admittedly, she’d bowled him over with the attack stunt. It had turned him on. He hoped her husband appreciated how hard she protected him. A tinge of jealousy tainted his feelings. Make that envy. He had no right to feel jealous of a female who belonged to another man. To his worst, damn enemy. To the monster who threatened mankind. What did that make Olivia? Was she as rotten as her husband inside? Did she collaborate with him? These weren’t the questions he should be concerning himself with. His only focus should be finding and killing Godfrey.

  Plagued by his conscience, he arrived at the base early enough to shave and shower before Alice’s arrival.

  Maya intercepted him in the entrance. “I have something to show you.”

  She led him to the meeting room and called up a 3D image of a news broadcast about a murder in Namibia. The victim’s body had been mutilated and the blood drained. The speculated motive was organ trafficking.

  “Got this last night from Tim,” she said.

  “Vampire?”

  “Portions of brain, bone marrow, skeletal muscles, skin, and liver have also been taken.”

  “Shifter?”

  Maya typed a command and more images of similar cases popped up. “New York, Paris, London, Toronto, New York, and Mumbai in the span of one week. All the victims have been drained and similar body parts taken.”

  Cain rubbed his brow. “Damn. This has paranormal stamped all over it.”

  With the recent coming out of paranormals, this was bad news. It was only a matter of time before someone made the connection. Right before the new laws for paranormals were to be passed, too. This could compromise the whole political campaign and cause a worldwide civil war. It wasn’t as if they could divide their forces to chase the killers.

  “You’ll also want to see the information Tim’s doctor supplied.” She pulled up a hologram of the human body, depicting the allegedly trafficked body parts. “These parts––liver, blood, brain, etcetera––are rich in stem cells.”

  Alarm chimed in his gut. “Stem cells are used in the process of regeneration.”

  “And in cloning. Who would suddenly need massive quantities of stem cells?”

  “Godfrey,” he said through clenched teeth. “By God, he’s done it. He’s turned himself into a monster, and now the monster needs to feed and multiply.”

  Chapter 3

  Maya’s face was uncharacteristically pale. “He’s going to wipe out the human race, just like he said.”

  “Does Josselin know?” Cain asked.

  “He’s still asleep after night duty. The info came in early.”

  “Wake him up. Call the team together.”

  She left with a quiet, “Yes.”

  Cain checked his watch. A few minutes were left before Alice would get here. God help them or all was lost. Inside, he raged. Olivia had lied to him. She’d said she didn’t know anything about the six cells when the proof that Godfrey had recuperated those cells, the ones Olivia had kept safe, stared at him from the hologram images. He shouldn’t take her deceit personally, but after last night he couldn’t help it. Time was up. There was no more playing nice.

  The team filtered into the room. Josselin was still buttoning up his jeans, his hair hanging loose around his shoulders. Clelia followed short on his heels. She’d pulled a sweater over her nightgown. Sara was bunching her messy hair into an elastic band. Despite working long hours and having had their much-need
ed sleep interrupted, everyone was clear-eyed and attentive.

  “Godfrey succeeded,” Cain said when they were gathered around the images on the table. “He’s harvesting stem cells. My guess is he’ll soon have an army of clones.”

  “Son of a bitch,” Josselin muttered under his breath.

  Lann studied the grim images. “We still have no idea where he is. He must be using a lab somewhere.”

  “For all we know, it could’ve been here, long before we arrived,” Ivan said.

  Cain leaned his palms on the table. “I’m getting into that lab. Today.”

  “With a team?” Josselin asked.

  “Alone. I don’t need a team for this. Josselin, you’re in charge. Maya, run stats on the murder victims and try to find a pattern or a path we can trail. Ivan, you take care of Alice when she and Eve arrive. Lann and Clelia, you protect the base. The rest of you, search every nook and cranny of the planet for clues. Speak to every informant we have on the globe.”

  It wouldn’t be long before his phone lit up with messages from concerned government officials.

  The noise of an aircraft pierced the air.

  “Every person to his station. Let’s go.”

  As the team dispersed, Cain hurried outside to where the helijet landed on a stretch of lawn. Bono exited first, followed by Eve and Alice. In a few long strides, Ivan was beside the craft, scooping a heavily pregnant Alice up in his arms. The agony visible on his son-in-law’s face reflected in Cain’s heart, but he pushed his feelings down to give Alice a reassuring smile as Ivan rushed past. After saying a quick greeting to Eve, he walked behind Ivan inside the house. Ivan paused briefly in the entrance for everyone to say their greetings before carrying Alice to his bedroom. Suppressing the urge to interfere, Cain led Eve to the lounge.

  “Anything new?” he asked.

  She blew out a sigh. “I’m sorry. All I can say is that Alice and the baby are healthy.”

  “Thank God for that. The delivery date?”

  “The baby is at a weight and developmental phase ready to be born, but it’s hard to say.”

  “Stay with Alice. If there’s anything, call me immediately. Clelia prepared a room for you.”

  He didn’t delay longer. He took no more than ten minutes to shower and change before heading back to Olivia’s place.

  She cried out in alarm and almost dropped the weights she was lifting when he barged into the gym. He jerked the bar out of her hands. It made a loud clang as he dropped it on the rest. Grabbing her arm, he pulled her to her feet and shoved her ahead of him down the hallway to the basement.

  “What are you doing?”

  He ignored the tremble of fear in her voice, moving her forward until she faced the wooden panel hiding the secret door. The minute he let go, she twirled around to face him, sparks flying from her eyes even as her mouth set in a wary line.

  A vein pulsed frantically in the hollow of her throat. “What do you want?”

  “Open the door.”

  “What door?”

  He’d thought he’d seen her in every tantalizing, sensual situation possible, from stepping wet from her bath to coming in his mouth, but damn she was pretty when she exercised. Her breath chased, making her breasts rise and fall with an exciting rhythm, and sweat coated her skin. Her muscles were more pronounced after the flexing, their cut perfectly defined. He simultaneously ached to taste her in this raw state and to push her to comply. He took a step closer and folded his fingers around the back of her neck. At the contact, she jumped and flattened her body against the panel, but she didn’t try to flee. She knew it was useless. She couldn’t escape. No one would hear her scream. She was on her own. At his mercy. In a very different way from last night.

  “Open the door,” he repeated, caressing her nape with his thumb. “Don’t make me hurt you.” Because he’d really regret that.

  Pain invaded her eyes. “You would, wouldn’t you?”

  He couldn’t keep her gaze, not while the truth raged in his and her disappointment lashed at him. Yes, he’d do it, even if it would hurt him a thousand times more. He’d taken an oath, and there was more at stake than this woman. A whole world needed to be saved, but the female pressed up against the panel beckoned him like a drug to an addict. It made him want to forget the situation or that she belonged to his enemy. It made him want to take her a million miles from here to a place where the arts and forbidden practices didn’t rule. He wanted to take her to his bed. Most of all, he wanted to get to know her mind. Yes, she made him want to throw reason out the window, but let down his team and his daughter? He could never do that. They’d run out of places to escape to if he failed in the task of eliminating her husband. The same disturbing thought from yesterday pierced his heart. Did she love Godfrey? Is that why she lied? He shook his head, dispelling the thought. This wasn’t the time for his misplaced emotions.

  Hardening his heart, he turned her around, pressing her cheek flat against the wood. A tear leaked from her eye and her lips parted from the force, but still she didn’t engage in futile fighting or begging. No, the fight had gone completely out of her at the realization that he wasn’t a gentleman who’d hesitate to hurt vulnerable females. The surrender was bittersweet. This wasn’t the way he wanted her to give in to him, but goddammit he’d run out of time. The proximity of her body did things to him, though, things he couldn’t begin to comprehend. There was the lust raging in his veins and something deeper, something like respect and admiration. Pinning her against the door wasn’t a good idea. Her constrained proximity was all his body could take note of. Memories of last night flittered through his mind.

  Expelling them with a mental shake, he gritted his teeth. “Open the door.”

  His hips tilted toward her buttocks. His dick turned hard. The air between them became charged. Thoughts and cognitive abilities melted away. There was only her body trapped in front of his and the delectable cushion of her thighs pressed together. Unable to stop himself, he wedged a knee between her legs, giving his hardness access to her soft spot. His breathing chased down her neck, moving the fine hairs that dusted her skin. He gripped her hands next to her face, intertwining their fingers.

  He was a breath away from fucking her. Right here, against the door. Like the animal she brought out in him. Like the demented creature he’d sworn he’d never be.

  He grazed her ear with his teeth, inhaling her intoxicating perfume. “I don’t like what you do to me.”

  She tipped her head away as far as the constraining position allowed. “Don’t blame your lack of self-control on me.”

  Right. His reaction wasn’t her fault, but it didn’t diminish his feelings. He rolled his hips. “Do you feel this? I want to put it where it belongs. Deep in your body.” Even if it was so wrong.

  The only thing that prevented him from doing exactly that was that she didn’t react. She kept perfectly still, but he could read the arousal that wrestled in her mind. Instinct fighting morals. Come hell or high water, he had to have her. It went beyond reason and obligation. It was bigger than nature, a call he couldn’t deny forever.

  “Eventually,” he whispered, “you’re going to give in to me, and I don’t mean just your mind. We both know where this is heading.”

  “My husband will kill you.”

  A chuckle rumbled in his chest. “Does your husband kill all your lovers?”

  “He never had to. I’ve never taken a lover.”

  “Yet, he hardly spends time with you. Does he touch you like this?”

  The answer hit him before she sheltered it in the private confines of her mind. No. Godfrey didn’t touch his wife.

  “That’s none of your business,” she bit out.

  “Why haven’t you taken a lover in all these years, Olivia?” She was virile and desirable, and she lived alone. Her husband didn’t sleep with her. What a waste of feminine sexuality.

  “I won’t put the life of someone I love at risk, and I don’t fuck someone I don’t love.”


  “Now there’s a challenge.” He eased away, taking the pressure off her body. “I guess you’re going to have to love me.”

  “You’re stalking me. You just admitted that you’d hurt me if you must. I’ll never have sex with you, let alone love you.”

  “Never say never.” He planted a kiss on her neck and released her hands.

  She twisted around the minute she was free, facing him squarely as if she was a match for him as an opponent. The sexual spell wasn’t broken, not by a long shot, but if he didn’t put some distance between them he was going to lose the last shreds of his control. This dance between them, like a matador with a red flag and a bull, was way too volatile.

  “If last night wasn’t sex,” he said, “then what was it?”

  “Oral doesn’t count, and you didn’t get a turn.”

  “We’ll have to rectify the situation to meet your criteria.” He dropped his chin, piercing her gaze. Enough time wasted. “Open the door.”

  Her mind did that shutdown thing where he couldn’t access anything, not even her arousal or stress. For a moment, he feared she wouldn’t obey and that he’d have to carry out his threat, but then she punched in a four-digit code that he memorized and pressed her thumb on the screen.

  The door slid open and overhead lights flickered to life. They had to work with a motion sensor. Cain grabbed her arm and pushed her through the door ahead of him. Just in case, he took the gun from his holster and pointed it ahead. They were inside a dimly lit tunnel. A smell of damp and fungus closed in on them, but the walls and floor were clean. Not a cobweb or speck of dust in sight.

  “Walk.” He ushered her forward.

  Her trainers fell softly on the rough surface. Goosebumps broke out over her arms. After three hundred yards, they came to another door with a similar security system as the first.

  When she didn’t react, he gave her a gentle shake. “Open it.”

  She punched in the same code, but this time the system required a retina scan. The door clicked open with a swoosh. They entered a spacious room with a low ceiling. From the furniture, he gathered it was a lab. It wasn’t operational, but like the hallway, it was clean. If someone hadn’t used it recently, he was planning on using it soon.